Dream It Events

I made a commitment to myself on the day of my wedding: I wasn't going to let anything upset me, no matter what went wrong. I definitely succeeded in that. Our guests told me that I was one of the happiest brides they'd ever seen, and that the smile never left my face.

I wasn't under any delusions, though. I knew the things that were going wrong, and I chose to ignore them on the day of the wedding. The day AFTER the wedding, though, I definitely had a good cry about it. I really, really wish things had been done differently. Melissa and Kasey did not do the job we hired them to do, from beginning to end. We hired them for DOC services for $750, and they were not worth it at all.

--prior to the wedding, they didn't do what they said they would. Despite my asking multiple times, they didn't help me with my timeline (my catering manager ended up doing it). They also said they would confirm with my vendors two weeks before my wedding, and they didn't even start until less than a week before the wedding. As a result, we ended up with a string duo instead of a string trio.

--I didn't feel that Melissa and Kasey knew much about my wedding. I didn't feel like they were making an effort to understand what I had planned in order to execute it. The day of the wedding, simple things went wrong because they didn't know fundamental parts of how the day was supposed to work.

--the setup of our ceremony (the only thing they were responsible for setting up) looked terrible. Melissa and Kasey asked me to give them exact dimensions for how wide the aisle should be, etc. I did (even though I thought it was simple), but it looked nothing like we'd discussed.

--We hired four trolleys to transport our guests to and from the ceremony site. Before the ceremony, Kasey asked my husband to be responsible for loading the guests on the trolleys while she went to the ceremony site to help Melissa and their intern. My husband, with no wedding/transportation experience whatsoever, did this flawlessly.

--After the ceremony, however, Melissa and Kasey crammed half the guests on the first trolley, and the rest of the guests were waiting for 45 minutes for the next one to come. The remaining trolleys had 6-15 guests each on them. My husband and I missed out on a part of the wedding that we were really looking forward to because our trolley was so late. Rather than having the wedding party on our trolley, we were with guests we barely knew because they were so disorganized.

--They had no idea what time our reception started in order to tell the trolley drivers what time to be back at the reception site--one of our guests had to tell Melissa and the driver. I couldn't believe it--that is a pretty necessary detail to know.

--Melissa constantly told me all of the problems with the wedding. If there was an issue, I felt like she was very dramatic about it and got people worked up, and then told me about it. I hired a DOC so that I wouldn't have to know about or deal with the little things that went wrong.

-- During the reception, Melissa checked in every half an hour to let me know how many minutes were left before the wedding was over (which made it very hard to enjoy). The rest of the time, though, Melissa and Kasey were both socializing with the drunken members of our bridal party on the patio. I had to track them down if I needed anything.

--Rather than keeping an eye on potential problems (drunken people throwing cupcakes? Someone trying to steal our cardbox? My parents having to deal with an unruly guest of a guest? Yeah, those crises were NOT averted), they were hanging out as if they were guests.

--They DRINKING ALCOHOL at our wedding. BOTH of them had alcoholic beverages AT OUR WEDDING. So unprofessional. They didn't ask permission for this--not that asking would have made it more acceptable. This is their JOB, even if it's not in an office. They were not guests at our wedding and should not have acted as if they were.

I would not recommend Dream It Events to anyone. To me, most of the things that went wrong were a matter of using problem-solving skills, common sense and being super organized. These are qualities that are absolutely necessary in a wedding planner or a DOC, and I didn't feel that Dream It was up to par.

I was so lucky to find Melissa Franco and Kasey Ross! While I had coordination for the ceremony at the church, we weren't allowed to set up the reception until 2pm (when I was walking down the aisle).

I met with Kasey and Melissa a few weeks before my wedding and described my vision. They picked it up right away and helped me think through some of the details. I sent them diagrams of the reception venue and how I wanted things laid out and got everything delivered to the hotel and then went to my wedding. When we arrived at the reception, it was like walking into my dream. Everything was PRECISELY as I had envisioned! (Later I learned that the hotel staff had started to set things up before they got there and had gotten things wrong and Kasey and Melissa had to undo their work...there was also drama about a limit on the number of votives and they had to negotiate with the hotel to put out more candles than the hotel wanted.)

During the receiving line, someone told me they had a large heavy package for us in their car. I told them to talk to Melissa and Kasey...they moved the package to our car. During the reception they also moved all the other wedding gifts into our car. When my MOH stepped on my train and broke one of my bustle loops, Kasey and Melissa fixed it while I chatted with guests. At the end of the night, they packed everything up that needed to be brought home and transported it all to my car. They even took the risers from my cake back to the baker! I didn't have to worry about a thing, everything was just done!

I dreamt up my wedding, but Dream It Events made it a reality!

I don't even know where to begin with this review. What Melissa Franco and her team did for our wedding is something money cannot buy. She was thoughtful and caring and treated me, DH, and all our family and friends with such kindness. She has a wonderful personality and diffused every stressful situation by making everyone laugh and by coming up with excellent quick fix solutions. Melissa is an amazing problem solver and she is just the person you want to take care of you and those you hold most dear on your big day.

I hired Melissa as my Day of Coordinator, but she did so many things that fall far outside that job description. Our venue called less than two weeks before the wedding to say that the city had begun construction near our ceremony location. I called Melissa in a panic and she straightened everything out - there were no remnants of the construction visible on my wedding day.

Then there was the rehearsal, for which we were almost an hour late. Melissa stayed a full extra hour and never complained or rushed us through it. She made sure everything was right and that everyone was comfortable with their role before we were done.

We had a lot of printing trouble, and so by the day before the wedding we still had not assembled the programs, place cards, favors, and many other crucial details. Melissa stepped in and went to the fabric store to get the exact ribbon I wanted for the programs, then assembled them all herself. She assembled our favors and cleaned up the mess the printers had left with our place cards. She even found a way to fit in 4 last minute guests and she picked up 150 sparklers for our farewell at the end of the night. I felt so guilty throwing all these extra tasks at her the day before the wedding, but she never complained and executed everything perfectly.

On the wedding day I was so thrilled to see that all the decorations and projects I worked so hard to plan were all perfectly executed by Melissa and her team. She brought along two interns and they all wore those wireless headsets so they could communicate easily by cell phone. Melissa was a superhero that day. I wasn't there for all the setup, but my in-laws were and they were amazed at how she was always in 10 places at once and was always one step ahead of the other vendors, helping them set up.

During the wedding, Melissa consistently made sure that DH and I were happy. She handed me a glass of the special sangria we asked for and if she hadn't, there's no way I would've been able to taste it. She helped me with my dress change for the reception and made sure DH and I had lots of cake in our getaway car to enjoy later.

Hiring Melissa was the best decision we made for our wedding. She made our day so special and memorable and we will always be grateful to her for that!

I hired Melissa and Kasey for only the day of the wedding. I basically wanted them to do the little tasks that the mother of the bride or the maid of honor usually end up doing- running around, putting out fires. They did just that- they helped set up the reception, then Melissa was at the ceremony site helping us with the little tasks that tend to come up before the ceremony starts. I really appreciated how they made sure I had water throughout the reception, appetizers, dinner, and cake. They also made sure our parents had plenty of water all night. My mom has expressed how much she appreciated Melissa's help, so that's good enough for me. The only problem I have in hindsight was that I was surprised that for a 4pm wedding, they didn't arrive until 1pm. Our day started at 8:30am with hair/makeup, etc, so there was plenty that they could have helped with earlier than 1pm. But I found out too late that they were arriving then, so I didn't bother asking them to come earlier. To me, "day of" should mean the whole day. Aside from that, I have no complaints.

Kasey and Mellisa were a HUGE help both before and during my wedding! I couldn't have asked for anyone more professional or helpful. From the first time I met with them, they were on top of everything I asked for. They created my time line for me, helped me make a photo list, directed other vendors, helped set up my tables, ran my guest book (which had a polaroid camera), set up games at the kids table, and kept me sane! They made sure I ate and got everything else I asked for all night. They stayed until the very end of the night and even helped load gifts into my in-laws car so my husband and I could go to our hotel early. I would work with them again in a heart beat and I highly recommend them to anyone getting married.

With the size and scope of my wedding, I knew I wanted to hire a day-of-coordinator. Our wedding had two separate locations for the ceremony and reception with a big chunk of time in between where I would be at a tea ceremony at the groom's house and not available to get the ceremony site cleaned up and the reception site set-up. Our ceremony had approximately 190 guests and approximately 270 guests for the reception.

Melissa and Kasey were the fourth DOCs we met with. Immediately after we met them, my (now) husband and I sat in the car shocked and amazed that we could hire coordinators as personable and organized as them for such a reasonable price... and there were two of them! We hired them as soon as we could get to a computer to print out the contract.

Our pre-wedding meeting was also extremely organized. Both my husband and I are engineers so we are pretty thorough, but Melissa and Kasey found areas that we forgot about. They had a checklist to go through so nothing would be forgotten on the day of the wedding. They helped us go through our timeline to make sure we added some time where the married couple could rest and eat so we could be energized for our guests. I had been extremely stressed before we had met, but after our meeting I felt soooo much more relieved knowing I had them in my corner.

For our rehearsal and wedding day, Kasey could not attend due to health reasons and doctor's orders (and they let me know as soon as they could) but Melissa was ready with an intern to help out. The rehearsal went great. Melissa had suggested giving her as much of my decorations as I could on the day of the rehearsal so I would not have to worry about trying to get it to her on the day of the wedding. Great suggestion!

The day of the wedding went beautifully. Melissa made sure everything was set-up and kept us on track. There were times where we slipped a bit on schedule and she laid it out how we could get back on track. She was my go-between and handled any hiccups that arose that I didn't know about. They stuck around until everything was packed up in all the cars ready to go. (11 AM to 10:30 PM) They took care of a lot of the little things that need to be done for weddings so that I could be free to talk and visit with guests. Melissa and her intern Maria were fantastic for my wedding and they were short one person. Imagine how fabulous they could be for your wedding with two healthy coordinators!

I cannot recommend Dream It Events any higher.

I have been scouting out wedding planners for a while, and finally had the opportunity to meet with Melissa from Dream It Events. I have absolutely nothing negative to say about her, even though I did not end up choosing her. Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to meet with her partner because she had just given birth, but judging by Melissa and her enthusiasm I could tell that they were an excellent team. They opened their business fairly recently, and have already had multiple clients all of whom seemed very happy with their work. I liked all the details that Melissa offered in her packages, and she seems like she had really customized her packages and services offered, with ever T cross and ever I dotted! Also, their prices are unbeatable. For a very low price you get two people coordinating instead of one! They have multiple packages to suit everyone's needs. The only reason that I am giving these two 4/5 stars is because they are very new to the business and experience makes perfect!

We initially hesitated at the thought of hiring a day-of coordinator, let alone a day-of coordination team, because we thought, what could these people do that we couldn't do ourselves on the day-of? Turns out, EVERYTHING. I don't even want to think about how our wedding on August 9 would have turned out had it not been for this dynamic duo. They went above and beyond to make our vision happen ... and they had to travel almost 2 hours to do it!

We had so many issues with our hotel coordinator that we decided we didn't trust her enough to have her set the whole wedding up by herself. We found Melissa and Kasey on the Knot, and their prices were super affordable, so we decided to give them a try -- we don't regret it for an instant!

A few examples of above and beyond: our wedding was in Monterey, and to save some $$, we found a place in San Jose that let us pick up and drop off chair covers and sashes, all we had to do was set them up! So Melissa drove from Dublin, picked them up and drove them to Monterey, and she and Kasey set up all 130 chair covers and sashes just the way I wanted them. The set-up was amazing, they handled all the breakdown and worked until well past 1am, they did everything they could to make our night look beautiful and made sure we didn't worry about a single thing all night.

Another example: my husband and I had ordered special passed hors d'oeurves, and we were lamenting the possibility of missing cocktail hour due to photos. Melissa and Kasey knew this was important to us, and made sure they set aside some of these special apps and drinks so we wouldn't miss out.

Also, my bustle broke three times. THREE TIMES. They fixed it quickly every time and I didn't miss a minute on the dance floor.

I'll also say this: the Tuesday and Wednesday before my wedding, I was completely frazzled and stressed out about all the details. The minute I handed all the stuff over to the two of them (and it was like a busload of stuff), I felt enormous relief. I can't say enough good things about them -- they were responsible, professional, top notch coordinators, and I would recommend them without hesitation. If anything, the gorgeous, flawless wedding we had only a few weeks ago speaks to the outstanding quality of their work.

Recently my wife and I got hitched in Squaw Valley CA / Lake Tahoe. Our wedding was absolutely perfect. I know it was our wedding so I am a bit bias but, it was seriously the perfect wedding. It was allot of fun and just as we pictured our special day. Dream it Events played a huge role in our success and helped us host a wedding that will be remembered for years to come.

Both Kasey and Melissa are great people and true lifesavers. They are both easy to work with and make it their goal to alleviate all the stress from your shoulders so you can simply relax and enjoy your special day.

Prior to our wedding day Kasey and Melissa came to our house to get to know us on a personal level. They wanted to make sure that they had a clear vision of what we wanted so they could custom tailor our event to match our personalities and style. We sat and talked freely for a few hours while they took notes and went over all the important details that you never really think of on your own. Their experience and knowledge was a true blessing that we could not have done with out.

Our wedding was an all day event with 188 people with two bands, ten groomsman, five bridesmaids, a caterer, a facilities manger, a florist, a baker, a photography team, and a serving crew. Kasey and Melissa worked well with everyone and were successful in making sure everything fell in place flawlessly.

Whether your event is a large party or an intimate get-together Dream It Events can help you. If you are looking for someone to plan your entire event or just assisting you on your special day, Dream It Events is the right place for you. No matter how much you think you can do on your own, Dream it Events knows planning and they let you enjoy your special day.

To view photos from our special day go to http://sonjaandjoe.myevent.com

I have worked with Kasey and Melissa on several events. They are very professional and have worked on a variety of events. They are able to take care of any unforeseen issues quickly and effectively. I highly recommend them.